Elves are the characteristic creature type of green, meaning they appear in almost every single set and are native to nearly every plane. In fact, they've been around in Magic's history ever since Alpha.

Elves have always had ties to nature, specifically ForestForests, which has led to them being associated with producing . Despite their long lifespans, they're quite numerous, oftentimes being second only to humans across the planes they inhabit.

Overwhelmingly, Elves have low costs, power, and toughness, but make up for this in incredible utility and synergies together. While there are individual Elves that have respectable statlines through their own merit, rare is the Elf that can stand on its own.

Being green-aligned but with ties to every other color, Elves can do just about anything cheaply and en masse, from gaining life to dealing death.

MANA! MANA! MANA!

No color can acquire mana better than green, and Elves are a large part of that. Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves may just be the most famous mana dork in the game. That is to say, the most famous creature whose sole value lies in granting you mana.

You don't play Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves in order to have them attack your opponent. You could, though it would be inadvisable. Their value is in getting you extra mana production, particularly in the early game. At a cost of , they're a force-multiplier, particularly if you can drop them turn one.

They're so good, in fact, that multiple reprints of the exact same card with different names have been made over the years. And then there's more weighty options if you're willing to have more expensive Elves for later in the game.

Swarm Tactics

Elves like making other Elves. Elves like scaling off of how many Elves you have. Elves also like enter-the-battlefield (ETB) effects that activate whenever a new creature enters the battlefield under your control. Not even excluded to Elves!

That last feature shows up most often under the Alliance keyword, which often involves gaining life and/or assigning +1/+1 counters as an ETB, which makes sense, given just how many different Elves there are!

Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid is a great example of a way Elves build off their numbers. Most of your Elves and Elf tokens will be 1/1, so bumping that up to 2/2 is a fine start. That being said, being able to scale your mana production off of your board state while only tapping a single creature is where Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid shines.

Weak on its own but with great synergies, as with most Elves.

+1/+1 Counters

Elves rarely have base stats larger than 3/3. To compensate, or likely due to their prominence across most major set releases, they have many ways to increase that power. Being overwhelmingly green, Elves have a deep-seated love for +1/+1 counters and have a number of ways to apply them.

However, Elves tend to recognize their strength is in their numbers and don't usually stack many +1/+1 counters on a single target. Rather, they offer the choice of placing counters on multiple creatures, which is a great bit of flexibility!

Elrond, Master of HealingElrond, Master of Healing is one such example. Not only does it grant +1/+1 counters to creatures when you scry, it then gives you card draw when these creatures become the target of a spell or ability. That's utility combined with power scaling off utility!

You're All In

Extremely tuned decks or powerful cards might allow a skilled player to sweep with a lone Elf, but broadly speaking Elves require the entire deck to be built around them. Elves have a fair bit of synergy with Warriors, Druids, and Rangers, as well as many of the various animals and plants of the forests, such as Beasts. However, much like how many of the cards draw strength from other Elves, those same cards are weak without them.

Drizzt Do'UrdenDrizzt Do'Urden ignores this, a lone warrior whose value is unrelated to being an Elf. Yes, he benefits from being an Elf if you have support, but he doesn't require other Elves. In other words, it's certainly possible to have non-typal Elves, but it's not common.

You're Annoying

Elf decks tend to be more annoying than threatening, at least to any opponent that has an answer. You're spamming tokens, gaining life, giving them +1/+1 counters, building your force until you can rush down any opponent you choose.

Then one board wipe or a sufficient horde of blocker tokens shuts you down.

Elves aren't weak, far from it. But they're a synergistic creature type that relies on many small creatures working in tandem, often on the backs of tokens. It takes time to get to ridiculous power levels, which means opponents can stop you from getting there if they see it coming, which is why you need to be comfortable attacking before you're at that ridiculous level of +1/+1 counters and tokens, supplementing your urgency with some support, like with Tyvar the BellicoseTyvar the Bellicose.

Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves

Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves is the ninth most played commander in the game at the time of this guide's writing.

With a weak statline compared to its cost, even menace feels like it can't compensate for its power. However, menace actually makes Lathril's ability of summoning Elves much easier, and since Elves love +1/+1 counters, Lathril won't stay 2/3 for long.

The most interesting part of Lathril is its activated ability, requiring tapping ten other Elves. This of course synergizes with with creating tokens upon dealing combat damage, but Elves may as well spontaneously manifest in your deck. You will have enough.

It should be noted that this ability causes your opponents to each lose 10 life: Lathril does not deal 10 damage to each opponent, so if you have an effect that procs off of dealing damage, Lathril's activated ability won't proc that effect.

Voja, Jaws of the ConclaveVoja, Jaws of the Conclave

Not even an Elf, Voja, Jaws of the ConclaveVoja, Jaws of the Conclave allows for a perfect fusion of Elf and Wolf.

With how many Elves you can get even with only a subtheme in an otherwise non-Elf deck, you will get great scaling rapidly because this procs every time Voja attacks, not upon dealing damage. Plus, ward is an amazing protection to have on a commander you want staying on the field.

Drawing a card for each Wolf you control is amazing value, given it will be at a minimum of one. Multiple Elves create Wolves, and Wolves as a creature type similarly beget more Wolves, meaning Voja can comfortable invest in a dual-typal deck.

Galadriel, Light of ValinorGaladriel, Light of Valinor

Galadriel, Light of ValinorGaladriel, Light of Valinor does almost everything Elves love.

She has an effect when a creature enters the battlefield where you can choose one of three options, with no repeats within a turn. Those effects are: add , all of your creatures get +1/+1, and scry 2.

The only thing missing here is some lifegain; then Galadriel would cover every aspect of what makes Elves great.

Marwyn, the NurturerMarwyn, the Nurturer

Although slow to grow, Marwyn, the NurturerMarwyn, the Nurturer is a fantastic payoff for Elf players that want to build around a central figure.

While only a 1/1, your Elves gain an ETB to give Marwyn a +1/+1 counter. Then, Marwyn can gain equal to its power.

The value of this will diminish over time as Marwyn is destroyed and your commander tax increases. Every time Marwyn is removed, it's back to a 1/1 for higher costs and less tapped mana. However, you won't be hurting for mana, and you'll have to risk your commander one way or another. That's what green's built-in protections, such as applying hexproof, are for.

Tyvar the BellicoseTyvar the Bellicose

Tyvar the BellicoseTyvar the Bellicose excels at making your weak mana dorks actually a formidable fighting force.

Tyvar can only give +1/+1 counters to a single creature per turn, but with how much support green has for distributing or proliferating counters, Tyvar only needs to do this once per creature to get your board set, not to mention that the +1/+1 counters are nice for building weak Elves into mid-range fighters, but the main event is granting your attacking Elves deathtouch.

Even just sending a handful of tokens can disrupt an opponent's board state, and that's before you get into enhanced low-cost Elves!

Rhys the RedeemedRhys the Redeemed

Rhys the RedeemedRhys the Redeemed allows you to create Elf tokens. Lots of them.

The value of Rhys is somewhat diminished by how uncommon Elf tokens that have an effect are, but that's a non-issue. With how many Alliance abilities Elves have, simply adding creatures to the board provides value in multiple avenues. Then they act as support for other effects, be it deathtouch or scaling +1/+1 counters or lifegain.

If you can get your tokens to have activated abilities, Rhy becomes a nightmare.

Nath of the Gilt-LeafNath of the Gilt-Leaf

Nath of the Gilt-LeafNath of the Gilt-Leaf is an incredibly disrespectful commander to run, be warned.

Every turn, you can force an opponent to discard a card, then you create a 1/1 Elf. It's less a declaration of war and more so a slap on the face, so why the big deal?

Nath is partially a black-aligned commander. Black as a color has access to many, many forms of forced discard. You can then leverage green spells to form more tokens, acting as sacrificial fodder for black spells. Often, this feeds into more discard.

The value of Nath as a commander is reliant on the temperament of your opponents, where if they can suffer the odd forced discard you will be able to flourish. For vindictive playgroups? Best to stay away.

Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves

Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves, as I mentioned earlier, is a must-have in any Elf deck.

By itself, it won't win you games. However, the ethos behind low-costed Elves that grant you mana is to stimulate your mana production.

Mana production and card draw cannot win the game by themselves, but they are the bottlenecks through which any value from your deck is going to flow, so making mana production easier makes anything else you want to do easier.

Arbor ElfArbor Elf

For a similar reason, Arbor ElfArbor Elf is another way to generate mana.

However, it actually allows a bit more flexibility in multicolored decks.

While it does rely on targeting a ForestForest, meaning you'll most often be getting all the same, there are nonbasic lands that are still considered Forests; Overgrown TombOvergrown Tomb is one such example.

Or if you cast an enchantment such as Elvish GuidanceElvish Guidance on a Forest, you can tap it for X mana and then untap it with Arbor ElfArbor Elf to get another X mana.

Trelasarra, Moon DancerTrelasarra, Moon Dancer

Trelasarra, Moon DancerTrelasarra, Moon Dancer can be a win condition in Elf decks oriented around gaining life.

Not only does it scale in strength and power every time you gain life, which is readily accessible in , but it allows you to scry. Scrying looks at the top card of your deck and allows you to put it on either the top or bottom of your deck.

This means that Trelasarra is both a beatstick that grows over time that also allows you to sculpt your deck, and with lifegain from the Alliance-oriented Elf creature type, it can rapidly restructure what you'll be drawing.

Lifecrafter's BestiaryLifecrafter's Bestiary

Your Elves are cheap and readily give you additional .

With the Lifecrafter's BestiaryLifecrafter's Bestiary, every time you cast a creature spell you can pay to draw a card. This, in all likelihood, will give you more Elves to allow you to draw more cards and so on and so forth until you have no more Elves. Or, rarely, until you have no mana.

The fact it allows you to scry during your upkeep means you can even work towards ensuring you draw additional Elves, and certain Elves have abilities that proc when you scry.

Serpent's Soul-JarSerpent's Soul-Jar

While it's specific to black-aligned Elf decks, the Serpent's Soul-JarSerpent's Soul-Jar is an easy inclusion in any deck that's willing to risk its Elves.

You can gain life easily. Many Elves have ETBs. This means you're doubling or even tripling the value of an individual Elf because when it dies, it's exiled. You can then play it from exile. Then it dies again, gets exiled, and you can play it again.

So long as you have Serpent's Soul-JarSerpent's Soul-Jar and life to spare, your Elves can keep coming back. And since you're already in black, low-costed Elves make for great sacrifice fodder for other effects.

Dawn-Blessed PennantDawn-Blessed Pennant

The Dawn-Blessed PennantDawn-Blessed Pennant gives you some additional lifegain when you play Elves and acts as an emergency panic button to grab one from the graveyard.

By itself, it won't change games. But that's useful!

While yes, it might be annoying for your opponents if you're constantly gaining life, that isn't a threat. Therefore, they likely won't target the artifact, which means you have a (nearly) unimpeded recursion for your linchpin Elf.

Elderfang VenomElderfang Venom

As I've mentioned a few times now, Elves are good at making more Elves. Elderfang VenomElderfang Venom makes those many Elves deadly. Literally!

Deathtouch means that anytime your Elves deal damage to a creature, that creature dies, so anytime you attack with a 1/1 Elf, anything blocking it is likely going to die, even if it has higher stats. Some things get around this, such as first strike, but overwhelmingly creatures with deathtouch are a headache to deal with, which is good for you!

And it doesn't stop there, since after dying in a deathtouch charge, your Elf tokens deal ping every opponent for 1 and gain you 1 life. Of course, this isn't constrained to tokens, but that's where you'll find the most value.

Prowess of the FairProwess of the Fair

Prowess of the FairProwess of the Fair works towards keeping your side of the board full of Elves.

Every time a nontoken Elf dies, create a 1/1 Elf.

This triggers ETB Alliance effects. This counts towards your total number of Elves. These are bodies to block and be thrown forward for pressure. There are very few issues with this inclusion in an Elf deck if you can manage it.

Elven ChorusElven Chorus

Elven ChorusElven Chorus facilitates doing more of what Elves already wanted to.

Looking at the top card of your deck and allowing you play creature spells allows you to access more Elves, potentially even drawing into one another.

While some of your Elves may already have the ability to tap for one or more , giving every creature you control the ability to tap for any color is an improvement. It expands the flexibility you have in multicolored decks and includes non-mana-oriented Elves in on the fun.

Galadhrim AmbushGaladhrim Ambush

Galadhrim AmbushGaladhrim Ambush, and similar cards that have nearly the same effect, doubles how many Elves you have.

Some have differences, such as Galadhrim AmbushGaladhrim Ambush also protecting your creatures from your opponents' damage, but the end result is the same. Your board is flooded with Elves, each of which trigger Alliance abilities and can then be empowered further with the myriad of other spells you have.

Scarblade's MaliceScarblade's Malice

Scarblade's MaliceScarblade's Malice is a great, cheap spell to throw on a weak attack defended by a large blocker. This gains you a negligible amount of life, kills the blocker, and then grants you a replacement token. This one at a base of 2/2!

Trystan's CommandTrystan's Command

While expensive, Trystan's CommandTrystan's Command has a collection of effects that give you fantastic flexibility.

You can copy an Elf you control, return some permanents you lost to your hand, destroy a creature or enchantment, or give an entire board +3/+3 and untap them.

That last one will serve you most frequently, with how many tokens and low-stated Elves you'll have. Then you can either destroy a troublesome blocker or enchantment like Sphere of SafetySphere of Safety, copy a non-legendary Elf to double effects, or just reclaim some permanents for later.

Tyvar, Jubilant BrawlerTyvar, Jubilant Brawler

Despite being labeled a brawler, Tyvar, Jubilant BrawlerTyvar, Jubilant Brawler is actually best suited for facilitating mana generation.

It can be used to ensure you always have your strongest Elf untapped, though it also has the ability to untap your Elves with mana abilities. Tyvar's passive lets you activate such mana abilities as if they had haste, meaning you can play a mana dork, tap it for mana, untap it with Tyvar, then tap it again.

This can get you incredible ramp in the beginning of the game.

Tyvar's second ability lets you return a creature card straight to the battlefield which, while constrained in cost, again lets you get even more mana. Alternatively, cheap scalers can be given a second chance if removed early.

Freyalise, Llanowar's FuryFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury

Freyalise, Llanowar's FuryFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury gives you additional mana generation, artifact or enchantment destruction, and massive card draw.

Freyalise isn't a terrible choice as your commander, but excels as support to push forward an otherwise externally-motivated machine. This is a planeswalker that makes your plans go off smoother, not alter your battle strategy. Which is a good thing!

Not every card in your deck needs to be a showstopper, a good few should play support. That's the philosophy of Elves in a nutshell.

Nissa, Steward of ElementsNissa, Steward of Elements

Nissa, Steward of ElementsNissa, Steward of Elements doesn't directly feed into a standard Elf playbook, but is useful nonetheless.

In an Elf deck, you should have no problem playing Nissa with a large amount of loyalty counters. And if you can't, scry 2 is not a bad option to invest in at all. However, her best ability isn't even converting lands into Elementals.

The best thing you can do with Nissa is give her a decent collection of loyalty counters, then with scrying from other Elves ensure you can play cards for free. Even if most of your Elves are cheap to begin with, cheating out cards like this is a fantastic extra bit of utility.

Wirewood LodgeWirewood Lodge

Wirewood LodgeWirewood Lodge is a simple, Elf-oriented land.

It gives or untaps an Elf for . And given many Elves can tap for , it really just gives you a great bit of flexibility in ensuring which of your creatures are tapped.

Or with dozens of tokens and Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves on the field, you can deal twenty damage to each opponent in a single turn.

Oran-Rief, the VastwoodOran-Rief, the Vastwood

Oran-Rief, the VastwoodOran-Rief, the Vastwood gives you the ability to grant a +1/+1 counter to every green creature that entered the battlefield this turn.

With how explosive you can get in creating Elves, this is yet another means of turning your 1/1 tokens into legitimate threats.

Paired with other effects like like Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid just builds and builds until eventually your standard token rivals the nontoken creatures of your opponents.

Elves love three things: Elf creature tokens, +1/+1 counters, and putting +1/+1 counters on Elf creature tokens.

Despite the power behind some of the legendary Elves' abilities, the main fighting force of the majority of Elf decks are the unnamed creature tokens that fill the board. Depending on what token generation support you're running, be it Doubling SeasonDoubling Season or populate-spam, you will be able to get an unreasonable amount of tokens.

Then, use the various spells and abilities of your deck to increase their power by +1/+1 at a time. Soon enough, you'll have twenty 9/9 Elf Warrior creature tokens or forty 4/4 Elf creature tokens with deathtouch.

Elves can feed into multiple different win conditions, from the direct to the indirect.

With how much deathtouch you can get your Elf tokens, Fynn, the FangbearerFynn, the Fangbearer is a natural way to rush down an opponent with poison counters. You can even proliferate both the poison counters and +1/+1 counters with Elves such as Ezuri, Stalker of SpheresEzuri, Stalker of Spheres.

Simic AscendancySimic Ascendancy is reliant on +1/+1 counters, which Elves already love grabbing. In-built mana production means you don't even have to rely on other sources for counters, though Elves rarely grant . That means you'll have to be able to produce enough blue mana to facilitate its in-built counter generation, but otherwise you can rush this through in a single turn.